Wheelock 26 (Reading)

2013-07-15

The Nations of Gaul

Map = Gaul before the Gallic Wars (58 – ca. 51 BC).
The area was conquered by the Roman Republic (later, Roman Empire), and then conquered by the Franks in 486.
Commentarii de Bello Gallico (aka Bellum Gallicum) was published in ca. 50–40 BC.
Note that the area inhibited by the Belgae was much larger than today’s Belgium, including northern France, Luxembourg, southern Netherlands, and western Germany.

The whole Gaul has been divided into three parts, of which the Belgae inhabit one, the Aquitani [inhabit] another, and those who are called Celts in their own language, [or] Gauls in ours, [inhabit] the third.

Hī omnēs linguā, īnstitūtīs, lēgibus inter sē differunt.

All of these [three] are different among themselves in language, customs (īnstitūtum, n.), and laws.

These are, O most pleasant friend, what makes life happier: property not made by labor but left by [your] father, a happy farm, little of the forum and a lot of leisure, calm mind, strength and a healthy body, wisdom, true friends, modest dining, a night not drunken but free from worries, a bed not sad and nevertheless chaste, agreeable sleep.

Many people think that military matters are more important than civil matters; but this feeling/opinion should be changed, for many civil things are more important and more illustrious than military things.

Here another large fear (O miserable story!) terrifies our blind souls.
Laocoön, who had been made the priest of Neptune by fortune, was sacrificing an energetic ox to an alter on the shore.
Then strong twin serpents, pressing the sea hard, are running from the island to the shore.
And now they were holding the fields and, with their eyes burning with fire, they were licking their mouths with hissing tongues.

We all are fleeing; in a definite way they are targeting Laocoön and his sons.
First they get the small bodies of the two boys, tear [them] to pieces, kill [them], and devour [them].
Then they seize the strong father, who is running to his poor sons, and hold [him] with their big coils and conquer [him].
He can not defend himself from [getting] wounds nor run away, and he himself, like a wounded ox to (at) the alter, raises horrible screams to the sky.
At the same time the serpents get away, and seek shelter in the citadel of the fierce Minerva.

Because Laocoön had thrown his spear into the horse of Minerva, we thought that he had made a mistake and he had paid the penalty;
we did not know the harsh truth.
We open the gates and admit that (darn) horse into our city;
and so boys and girls—O fatherland, O great gods, O Troia!—rejoice to touch him.
And also we—the miserable ones—rejoice, for whom that day was the last (day) and for whom never will be any comfort.

The leader, having been sent to the senate, took command and was made general.

accipiō, accipere, accēpī, acceptum.

imperātor, imperātōris, m. “general”

faciō, facere, fēcī, factum.

Dux imperātor factus est. (The leader was made general.)
—
The predicative nominal imperātor is used in nom., just like Dux,
even though it is an object of the verb factus est.
In a different context, a predicative nominal may be used in acc. as in SA 8:
eum factum esse dictātōrem. ([declared] that he was made dictator.) — in this case, dictātōrem is in acc. just like eum.
Perhaps a predicative nominal takes the same case as its “subject”.

9. Rēs pūblica, ut āit, libellīs huius modī tollī potest.

The republic, just as he says, can be destroyed by the little books of this sort.

libellus, m. “little book”

tollō, tollere, “raise, lift up, take away, remove, destroy”

10. Aliquī negant hostēs victōs servitūte umquam opprimendōs esse.

Some men deny (=do not think) that conquered enemies should ever be oppressed by slavery.
(Some men say that conquered enemies should never be oppressed by slavery.)

— How many trees does this garden have in it?
— There are five trees in it.

8 ܡܢܝ ܡܶܢ ܚܰܕ ܠܚܰܡܫܐ.

ܚܰܕ، ܬܪܶܝܢ، ܬܠܳܬ̥ܐ، ܐܰܪܒܥܐ، ܚܰܡܫܐ.

— Count from one to five.
— Ḥaḏ, Treyn, Tlōṯō, ʾArbʿō, Ḥamšō.

ܡܢܺܝ (mnī) = imperat. sg. m. of
ܡܢܳܐ (mnō), “count” [Peal transitive]
√MNY (Tertiae Yōḏ) — In the Perfect Peal a transitive form of pronunciation with ā in the 3rd sing. m. and an intransitive with ī are to be distinguished; but side by side with the latter form there appears and that widely, one with ā... In the Impt. Peal the transitive form in ī has almost completely supplanted the intransitive form in ai (Nöldeke §176)

Write this line once

9 ܘܰܪܕܐ ܗܳܢܐ ܐܝܬ̥ ܠܶܗ ܪܝܚܐ ܒܰܣܝܡܐ.

This rose has a sweet smell.

Today’s words

Wheelock 25 PR

1. “Quisque,” inquit, “semper putat suās rēs esse magnās.”

“Each person,” he says, “always thinks that his own things (problems/plans) are important.”

2013-08-07: Notice that Šappīr is in the abs. st. and Bassīmā is in the emph. st. while both are masculine here.
Basically, a mas. adjective gets -ā when used attributively, and this kind of feels like -al- in Arabic.